updated 09:35 am EDT, Wed August 10, 2011

Skype outlines plans post-MS acquistion

Skype's forthcoming Windows Phone app will integrate deeper than the Skype app for both the iPhone and Android devices. After its $8.5 billion acquisition by Microsoft is approved by European regulators (expected by the end of the year), the future Skype division of Microsoft has plans to make Skype functionality an integral component of the Windows Phone experience. Skype's VP of products and marketing, Neil Stevens, says that Skype plans on creating a different kind of app, something that feels part of the phone.

"A Windows Phone app, if done well, can show people what a really great Skype experience is like when there are no hardware or vendor limitations," says Stevens.

Apple does not currently allow Skype to access the iPhone's video processor or its address book. Android permits Skype to access the phone's address book, but also blocks it from accessing the video processor. According to Stevens, the level of Skype's new integration with Facebook is an example of how he wants the app to function in Windows Phone.

This experience will also be extended into the rest of Microsoft's ecosystem including the Xbox platform, its corporate Lync communication system and upcoming Windows 8 devices.

While at various stages of development, none of Skype's current plans for Microsoft's product line will not go live until the acquisition of Skype is formally approved. [viaForbes]

Waiting to see

I have used a MS Windows Phone and loved the experience. The apps are lacking...significantly, but the OS itself is pleasure to use compared to Android, and even compared to iOS. BUT...I am Apple's b**** when as I am heavily invested in Apps (language learning in particular - no Windows Phone versions) and iTunes music. Until iTunes Japan drops the DRM nonsense I have no choice, short of converting all 15GB of Jpop, but to use iOS. And...I am excited to see what iOS 5 is like.

The great value destroyer...

Microsoft is a king for destroying value in the tech world. I still wonder why Microsoft bought Skype when they have their own competitor MSN Messenger. They put millions and millions into MSN, they declare war and successfully killed ICQ value with it, they forced people to use MSN with Windows XP, and at the end MSN appear to suffer the same fate of the Zune, no more update, no more official status from Microsoft.